Legend of Dragoon: Legend of the Cygnets
by Just call me is that a cookie
Summary: 50 years after the Second Dragon campaign a new evil rises. However, this tale is merely a prequel of the terror to come...can a half-wingly, princess, thief, assassin, and a mysterious adventurer face the beginning of this new threat and the dragoons?
1. Escape

_Chapter 1: Escape_

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Dragoon.

Ken was bored. Most people think boredom is terrible, but nothing to have as an overbearing feeling. However, for a wingly boredom is one of the most terrible things to happen, some have even gone insane because of it. The greatest example of this is of course Melbu Frahma. His boredom cause him to allow the human armies to grow instead of crushing them at the start. Laying on the grass in one of the many flower fields within Ulara the spiky black haired teen blew his bangs away from his blue eyes.

"So bored…" He muttered under his breath crossing his arms behind his head. To Ken the worse thing that could ever happen was remaining confined, and that's exactly how he's lived. Since he is a very new born child, only 15, he wasn't allowed to do anything at all. Even going outside was a distant dream to him, which was the one thing he was dieing to do.

"Hungry…..Bored…Thirsty…." He said before staggering up making a lady covered by a flowering hat walk in the opposite way.

_Maybe I should stop scaring people? Eh, whatever Ill grab something to eat and then pester someone._

At this thought the young wingly started to walk down one of the many roads of the city and towards a large looking building which on the outside had a large menu as a window. Quickly making up his mind he opened up the door and stepped within.

The dim lighting of the restaurant made it a little hard to see until a few seconds later. The only things that would make this different from any ordinary restaurant was the large group of men and women gathered in one corner of the room chatting noisily. As bored as Ken was he really didn't want to talk to any of the elder winglies so he took a seat and ordered himself some food. However, even though he wasn't involved he still heard tid-bits of conversation.

"What do you mean he's cheatin-"

"Join my group now or face dea-"

"Charlie's going to leave the south gate unguarded tonight, looks as though there's a meeting going on in the center-"

Ken was completely spacing out until the last bit of conversation came by and he was immediately focused.

"- of the town something about another kid being born again. Seems as though we're getting a bit of births lately, but its needed since the Forest went up in flames."

The forest of winglies. That's something Ken hadn't thought about in awhile, his former home and a haven for winglies which was completely destroyed about 10 years ago. No survivors but one. However, this is exactly what Ken was hoping for, an opportunity to go see something new. Perfect. A few moments later when the food was served the waiter only saw an empty stool.

Later that night…

Ken rushed through the streets, sticking closely to the shadowed walls of the buildings and moving as stealthily as possible. His clothing wasn't visible in the darkness however, one could make out the shape of a sword in its sheath on his right side, as well as what seemed like a bag on his back with a map sticking out of it. He paused at what seemed to be nothing more but a carefully drawn circle before looking around.

_I forgot how to move this thing… _

He panicked slightly looking around before noticing the console on the side, Sighing he placed his hand against it closing his eyes allowing everything sink in before the sound of footsteps approaching was clear in his ears.

_Crap!!_

He dived towards the glowing circle his bag hitting the railing and in a flash Ken disappeared from Ulara.

--Outside Ulara—

A large ball of green energy floated gently down the sky and dispersed into the night revealing a figure who stood up shaking his head.

"I made it….the outside world…" Ken's nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath before looking around. Desert, desert and more desert. He kicked the sand up into the air deciding that even the area AROUND the wingly city was boring before reaching back to the bag for his map. He grabbed once…twice…three times before realizing it wasn't there and groaning in realization.

"I dropped it I am such a dunce…" He was dragged out of his conversation with himself by what seemed to be a shining green light coming from Ulara. Picking a direction at random Ken headed to his direct left narrowly turning around a corner and running as fast as possible. By the time he finished running he has sweat dripping off his brow and his harsh breathing would have allowed anyone to find him.

"Finally got away…." Pure instinct allowed him to role out of the way of a large stinger belonging to a very angry scorpion which was hidden in the sand in front of him.

"What'd I do!!" He complained before noticing the remains of what seemed to be small scorpions on his shoes. "That explains it…." He ducked under another stinger, belonging to another one and a third came out of the sand all three scurrying in front of him as he drew his sword carefully eyeing their stinger's and once he regained his breathe, he struck.

Ken dashed forward as all three stingers flew towards him narrowly grazing past the cloth of his back as he stabbed straight forward with such speed that the sword ran clean through the face of the scorpion. He then proceeded to jump off its claw allowing him to dodge the two stingers from the others, and allowing them to hit the wounded one finishing it. He turned to the one on his right and waved his hand around in several circles as a large fireball appeared and shot out.

He felt his stomach drop as not only did the scorpion block it with his claw, but he was picked up by the leg and swung around and into a large, and VERY painful rock making his world spin. As the scorpion scurried across the sand to him he again made circular motions but this time the scorpion couldn't dodge as its face was roasted point blank.

"There we go….One and two dead.." Ken said smiling before his eyes widened realizing what he just said and he turned to receive a crippling blow by the last scorpions claw in the head sending him to his knees. As the claw descended for another blow, Ken remembered the sword and raised it deflecting the claw and quickly turning, using the momentum gained to slice off the scorpions tail. It stumbled backwards blood pouring out of the stomp as he thrusted the blade into its eye with a heave. It fell dead a moment later.

"This is why I don't have pets…" The blade withdrew from the dead body as he wiped it off and returned it to its sheath. His eyes danced around the desert, most was pitch black and he had no idea where to go. If only he hadn't lost the damn map.

_Too late now…Wait what's that over there?_

Looking closer he could easily make out what seemed to be a ruined doorway. The inside was pitch dark but he would prefer a closed spot then being out in the open where other things could find him. He quickly stood up and looked in his bag.

_Great…I really more problems…._

Everything was broken from his earlier crash into a rock. All that wasn't broken was the two potions in his front pouch, the money, and some of the food he had. Most of the water bottles spilled their contents everywhere but there was enough for him to survive until he could find a town…eventually. He turned towards the tunnel entrance and walked into the darkness a hand on his sword as his entire body was covered by the shadows.

Whew. Technically Chappie 1 but could be considered a prologue. Soooo Review  and ill give you a cookie. Okay, maybe not but still review!!


	2. The Outside world?

_Chapter 2: The Outside world?_

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Dragoon. I only own Ken, and any of my ideas that are inserted within the fic.

A small light flooded out of the dark tunnel as Ken made his way through the exit. Looking up he could see that night was slowly fading, the sun peaking out over the horizon. Extinguishing the small flame that was in his hand he looked around his surroundings with the faint light of the sun.

His first look at the outside world gave him only one thought.

'What the..?'

Surrounding him was nothing but ruins of a city. A large statue lay in pieces along the sandy floor, half blocking a staircase. A small cavern lay across from him, but was also sealed by what seemed to have been a large rockslide. The only path which looked remotely crossable was to the right, where the remains of a door lay, shattered into pieces.

"It looks like a war was fought here or something…" Ken muttered to himself as he stepped over the rocks strewn across the floor. Before him lay a bridge, battered with dust and numerous broken arrows littered all around. They were very old however, proving that it was quite a long time before any battle was fought here. Reaching the end of the bridge he walked through a similar door ignoring the ruins of what seemed to have been a great city.

As he entered the next area a shout reached his ears.

"Drop all your belongings now!" A deep voice yelled from his left as a figure dropped to the ground, sand raising up as he landed. Two other similar figures landed behind him, making him wonder how he didn't notice them before.

"You deaf or something boy?" Asked another raising up a small dagger, glistening in the sun. All three wore masks and a cap hiding their features from his view.

"I want to beat on something anyway!" Said the third rushing forward.

I reacted purely on instinct. Before he rushed I was confused on why I was getting attacked. Was the Wingly prejudice this bad? There was no more time to think as a fireball lit up in my hand and smashed itself into his chest sending him flying backwards. He dropped with a sickening friends as his two allies stared in horror.

"Yo-you killed him!! Monster!" The first one shouted out before running off into the ruins, as the second one followed. The smell of burnt flesh made me sick.

"I killed him…."

I stumbled backwards in light of this fact. I had actually killed a man… I had no more time to think on this however, as out of the shadow of the buildings scorpions flooded out.

10…

20…

50…

There were way too many for me to take on at once.

"Crap.." Ken muttered quickly forgetting the man as he jumped over a rock narrowly dodging a stinger and running down the path. It's a good thing the ancient city's entrance was close because within seconds he was running out of it, the large scorpions slowly chasing. As he started to run he tripped over a rock and fell off the cliff he was on falling to his seemingly demise, however he was lifted upwards and found himself standing upside down on a rock.

"What the he-" He was cut off by a stinger being stuck next to his head, a quick turn and slash from his sword later and the stinger was removed causing the monster to shriek in agony. Ken took this time to attempt to continue on however, a step later he found himself walking sideways on another rock.

"Your kidding me!!" He shouted out to no one as two more scorpions managed to catch up to him. He turned quickly the familiar ball of flames in his hands and let it sail into one, sending it flying into another of these 'wormholes' and into a different state of gravity. A smack from the claw of the other one sent him flying into a nearby cliff, where gravity was thankfully reinstated. However, ken was forced to move once more, as he rolled to the side the spot he was in previously was now occupied by more scorpions.

"… I… Hate…Life…" He said as they stalked closer. Then as luck has it the edge of the cliff broke away sending them all tumbling downwards towards their demise. "WHOOT!! Yes!! I so owned them!! Ha!" He shouted doing a victory dance. "And don't come back!!" He called over the cliff looking at the incoming forms of the scorpions.

_Wait…They're coming closer..? Oh Crap!!_ He thought before turning around and running, silently cursing the weird are he was now in. Turning quickly around he tried to memorize one of his first lessons.

-Flashback-

"Ken…."

"Ken……"

"Kenpie?"

"Ugh…?" Ken lifted his head up from sleep to look at the smiling face of the Leader of the Ulara winglies. The legendary Frahma sister Charle.

"What was I just saying again?"

"Um… You were talking about the Dragoon fair this year??" The then 10 year old asked.

"No.. I was talking about the magic we, as winglies are able to use. This is something that could save your life you know?" She said smiling on cheerfully. "Winglies are able to perform all sorts of magic, of course so are humans, they just never bothered taking the time to learn."

"Ugh…. So we can make a fireball big deal?"

"Oh that's not all we can make…"

-End Flashback-

As he finished thinking of this lesson Ken gently placed his hand on the ground and willed his magical energy into it. The first scorpion thought it had the kill, but a the earth below it rose into a large wall which lifted it then flew backwards into the crowd of scorpions, taking many of them with it over the edge.

"I. Love. Magic." Three words and he continued on his path towards a visible gate not too far from him. He was halfway there before he realized he wouldn't make it. All the noise had attracted some ugly looking monsters that decided running after him would be fun, and the gate was too large to get over in time.

_Im dead…Its not humanely possible to get over that in time…_

_Wait What the hell am I talking about!! I'm not completely a human!!_

At these thoughts Ken had to smack himself as he gained a sudden boost of speed, a slight after image appearing behind him and he sailed through the air, landing on a broken crevice in the get before leaping up once more, and over the top. He landed on the dusty ground on one knee taking in deep breathes.

"I made it…"

The sound of scurrying feet and a look of three very angry and much more ferocious Scorpions made him stop that. The large seal on their head, Two spirals intersecting with an Evil looking eye in the middle made him run off once more.

"…So You want him..?" Nearby a man cloacked in black watched as the scorpions continued. He wouldn't help.. not yet. After all, he still wanted to hold onto this…

The Black burst Dragoon flared to life, sensing one it wanted as its owner nearby


	3. Melandy

(Finally a chapter after so long xD. Reviews will be appreciated as they'll encourage me and help me pick up my writing ^_^, I'll try my best to update this more often.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Dragoon, I merely own my own created characters and plotline.

_**Chapter 3 : Melandy**_

Ken weaved through the sandy plains he was currently running through. The only thing going through his mind was to run, but the sweat dripping down his forehead dipped into his eyes causing him to have to pause and wipe it away. Pausing for his slight break, he braved a look backwards to see the ominous shapes of two scorpions.

"Two… Where'd the third one go..?" He asked himself before deciding to take the blessing and speeding through the plains once more, kicking up sand behind him. This was just too much, he had been fighting ever since he left his home, and these things weren't your average monsters. He jumped over a large rock and landed about 5 feet away, quickly rolling and moving faster, ignoring the protests of his body as he ran along a large cliff. The sounds of the scorpions slowly gaining made him move faster, and faster, he could already taste it, he would survive! Atleast he was before he crashed into something and fell backwards closing his eyes as he held his head groaning.

"What the hell…." He muttered sitting back up and looking straight ahead to see another person slowly standing up, he wiped his eye's of the sweat to get a better view.

Standing in front of him was a girl just barely shorter then him, she had neat flowing brown hair up to her shoulders it seemed, as well as a white dress that was dirty from the dust in the barrens they were currently in. He also took note of a smooth brown bow on her back, as well as a brown quiver which he assumed he held numerous arrows, his current view couldn't let him see much more.

"Watch where your going idiot…." The girl said holding her head and shaking it.

"Me!?! What about you!" Ken shouted getting back to his feat, momentarily forgetting about the threat to deal with this rude girl.

"I had a good reason!" She shouted back, and then as if to prove her point a large scorpion stepped out behind her.

"That's where the third one went…." Ken said pulling out his sword seeing nowhere to run as the other two had caught up, quickly surrounding the two, he spun around to deal with the greater number, while the girl quickly pulled out her bow, and slid an arrow neatly in place.

"No need to take that out babe, your knight in shining armor is here." Ken said quickly pulling his blade out, not feeling as courageous as he felt.

"The name's Melandy not babe, and shining armor? I've seen better clothes on homeless people, idiot." The girl said aiming her bow at the scorpions who seemed to be eyeing their next meals as they argued.

"The name's Ken, and would you prefer them off?" He asked as the scorpions edged closer.

"Of course n-" She was cut off as her scorpion dashed forward before getting a large arrow straight through one of its eyes making it stumble backwards, Ken on the other hand dashed towards his scorpions, barely avoiding their clawed hands as he got in the face of his first one, slashing horizontally, before twirling to the left dodging the tail and stabbing forwards, kicking off the scorpion to avoid the last of its attacks as it stumbled around madly. At this its companion charged forward its stinger darting forward.

Ken rolled to the side slicing into the tail before it drew it back and darting it forward repeatedly, each one causing the boy to barely dodge, before retaliating. He could also hear the sounds of arrows going off from the girls bow before seeing their effect is three sailed into one of the claws, not causing any damage but causing the scorpion to be distracted giving him the opportunity to completely cut off the tail of the beast It stumbled backwards before falling against the cliff and twitching dead.

"Not half bad…" Ken muttered to Melandy as the other two shook themselves from their pain and circled the two.

"Same to you.." Melandy said before pulling out two arrows and firing them off into her scorpion. From behind her she could hear Ken grunting as he dodged the attacks. The tail shot forward but Melandy neatly sidestepped, a portion of her dress being ripped off before she took four arrows in half and shoved them in causing the scorpion to step back in pain as she fired a final arrow, sailing clean through its head. She turned, tucking in three more arrows and firing them.

"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY!!" Ken shouted as one arrow sailed right by his ear, completely missing the scorpion, the other two neatly puncturing it as he dashed forward skewering the beast with his sword.

"Shut up, I did it didn't I." She said brushing her hair back taking in short raspy breaths. That was actually the most fun she had in awhile however her heart caught as she saw a large shadow behind her.

"_No!!!"_ She thought to herself as she turned, her scorpions tail aiming straight towards her…and hitting the boy who had dived in front of her.

"You should've moved…" He said with a smirk, before raising his hand as a fireball shot out, killing the scorpion, he then promptly pulled the stinger out before passing out on the ground.

'_He launched a fireball…a FIREball…Crap, now is not the time he's poisoned!' _Melandy thought quickly rushing forward and kneeling besides him. _'I don't have time for this… but still… he saved my life.'_

The younger and lighter girl lifted up Ken with a grunt as she started to move towards one of the nearby cliffs.

"God…are you as heavy as you are cocky…?"

Ken moaned as he lifted himself up, feeling the cool and scratchy surface of rocks on his back.

"God… what hit me…"

"Your up already? I thought the antidote would take a bit longer to run through your system." A feminine voice rang out reaching his ears as he opened his eyes, letting in the dim light.

Ken could see the faint outline of a body sitting on the Cliffside. He stumbled to his feet his vision swimming around as he moved closer, now able to make our the girl from earlier as he dropped down next to her looking up towards the now visible stars while glancing at the girl's face.

"Why'd you save me?" He asked folding his hands behind his head as he attempted to relax. The girl also doing the same folding her hands behind her back looking off into the valley.

"You did the same for me, I was just returning the favor…..thank you." The roughness in her voice disappeared as she took a softer tone. "I thought you were a bandit…but I guess I was wrong…you're a wingly aren't you?" with this she turned to Ken looking into his eyes, which would be a dead signal of his ancestry. "Your hair is black though… not platinum."

"I'm not a full wingly.. I'm a half wingly." He replied non-chalantly. Ken shook his head as the last traces of the powerful poison left his system while Melandy looked down at him with a odd look.

"You know you should hide that a little better. The Wingly Prejudice has really had gotten bad over the years, you might actually have people try to kill you for that."

With those words Ken quickly sat back up regretting it as his world swam. "It's that bad?"

"Yea,, we're going to have to pick you up some new clothes in the next town we hit which should be Donau, considering you came from the valley." Melandy said with authority as she stood up brushing off her dress. While Ken stared at her. "What?"

"When did this become WE? Just curious."

"Since I decided you don't know anything about this place. You were completely lost when you bumped into me. I bet they cut you guys off from the outside world in your wingly cities huh?"

"Yea…" He muttered out glancing to where his small bag was, and what he assumed was Melandy's bag.

"Same thing in my home…my dad never let me out of the castle always worried about me. It was so suffocating I just had to get away from it. That's how I ended up in the plains."

"Yea… they never let me out of the city, so I ran off too and I – Wait Castle?!"

Melandy smirked as she lifted up her bag and bow. "You really did grow up under a rock. My father is the king of this country, our castle is back In Fletz." With that she pointed back towards the large castle he could barely see as the sun was almost completely below the horizon.

"And you tell me this without knowing who I am, or anything like that?"

"You're a wingly. Your young like me. Your lost. And you nearly died protecting me. Right now we're both better off with each other. We're both running from something and we want to learn more about the world… isn't that enough? …It is enough…right?" Melandy stopped feeling a hand on her shoulder as she turned to see Ken with his bag tied onto his waist and his sword back in it's sheath as he winked at her.

"Lead the way. I'm ready to see everything." The boy smiled

"Correction, We're ready to see everything." The girl smiled back as she walked down the cliff as the night overtook the duo who headed to the town whose lights were visible in the distance…. Unaware of the danger right on their heels.

"…An interesting development. Have you changed your mind yet..?"

The stone pulsed a dark blue light as the darkness was swept away.

As always review and I'll give u a cookie! I appreciate negative and positive reviews ^.^


	4. The Twin Flowers Bloom

(Whoot another chappy! This one wont have much action sorry, I'm going to try to work on character development between my new char and Ken.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Dragoon, I only own Ken, Melandy, and the plotline I am using.

_**Chapter 4 : The City of Flowers**_

The daylight flooded into the inn room as Ken stirred from his sleep turning to the right of his bed facing opposite of the wall. About 10 feet away sat another small bed, which lay empty as Ken sat up quickly reaching for his sword ready to –

"I'm right here. I like to wake up early to watch the sun." A softer voice reached him as he turned to the small window where his female companion was sitting on a chair looking out the window.

"I just figured something might have happened. I mean I'm pretty sure someone had recognized you."

With a sigh Melandy turned away from the window towards Ken. "Most people know that my father had a daughter, but never saw me. I'm sure word will be sent here soon about my disappearance, as well as missing posters so we should leave fast. I still have a good deal of gold left so we should be able to buy tickets on a ferry that will take us to Mille Sesau."

"Lucky I met up with a princess. I dropped most of my money back home, but even all of it would only be about a tenth of what you have."

"Yea yea, I'm right your poor I get it. Put those on when I'm done." Melandy said waving him off pointing to a set of clothes to his right. "Your last set is pretty torn up, and the fabric is different from what's human made, I brought myself some clothes top to blend in a little easier, you out! Ladies first to change!" She said shoving Ken out with his clothes in hand as he sleepily looked at the door that was just closed in his face.

"…Huh?"

**-5 minutes later-**----------------

"All done! Come on in now!" Ken sighed as Melandy's voice rang out clearly through the door as he stepped in. On Melandy's bed he could see the dress she was wearing when he met her and looking towards her he took in her new look.

Melandy was now wearing a white button up blouse with short sleeves which was engraved with yellow on the edges of the sleeves, she was also wearing a light blue skirt, reaching up to her knees that had white linen on it. Her bow was next to the dress, with a quiver of arrows, completely filled up. Her hair was now tied back in a ponytail, a golden bangle keeping it in place, and before she reached for her bow and quiver she put on two brown gloves.

"Wow you look … just wow.." Ken said while Melandy turned a little red at the compliment before Ken finished. "…But can you actually fight? I mean are you sure your not just makin - Never mind your good I'm sorry." He changed mid-sentence as Melandy had picked up her bow and launched two arrows, one hitting next to his head sticking into the door and another sailing right next to his leg.

"Jerk. Get changed." She shot a glare at him before walking out the room to let him change again.

Ken sighed and rolled his eyes. Was everyone in the human world so damned moody?

**5 minutes later -----------------------**

Melandy sighed as she sat on one of the stools in the lower level of the Inn having just finished her meal, a small platter of food resting across from her, the steam slowly drifting away as it waited for her companion to descend the stairs.

'_Really needs to learn some manners…'_ She thought as the creaking of stairs brought her out of her trance to look at her companion in his new attire. Ken was now wearing a blue pair of jeans and brown leather shoes. His upper attire consisted of a white t-shirt and a blue jean jacket. His hilt had been replaced by a brown leather hilt and he even had a glove that matched Melandy's however it had yellow lining along the outer edge. He walked over to Melandy quickly spotting her and sat across from her eyeing the meal on the plate.

"So…"

"I brought It for you, so just eat."

"You know what you really are the best." Ken said gratefully as he started to eat the food while glancing at Melandy, who unrolled a map, making a circle on the Country titled Tiberoa.

"This is where we are. I managed to buy ferry tickets while you were getting changed. It's an express so we'll be heading straight to Mille Sesau, we'll head to the port city of Denin, it was recently constructed, so there shouldn't be too many people there, and it has a straight path through the forest, to the capital where we can pretty much avoid anyone due to the large crowds." While speaking she made an X at the two destinations, and a line drawing their planned path.

"The ferry leaves in 30 minutes, so we have time to stock up on some items and such. I'm really tired of doing the shopping for both of us so here." She said pulling out a much smaller sack compared to hers, which jingled as Ken picked it up. "You should be able to buy what you need I'll meet you at the ferry." Almost as soon as she finished did her eyes widen and she turned around yelling at an older man who ran out of the Inn.

"Pervert! He just grabbed my ass!"

"…Where do you keep your gold again?"

"It's tied to the back of my skir.….Crap! It's gone do you think he?!"

"Nah I prefer the he felt you up. Of course he stole it!" Ken sat up knocking the chair over and grabbed the other bag before running towards the door the thief fled through Melandy following close behind as the older men in the Inn looked at each other confused.

Melandy pushed through the door into one of the flower filled streets of Donau, the sun having already risen and a small number of people walking back and forth through the colorful block, vendors already setting up. Looking left and right she could see nothing of the thief that took her gold.

'_Damnit! That leaves us with only a small amount of gold left, I doubt we'll be able to last off of such a small amount…'_ Her train of thought was disturbed as Ken lightly smacked her on the back.

"Come on babe this way!" He called out, already a fair distance, weaving through a number of people as he ran towards the docks.

"Babe!? I'm gonna kick your ass AND his ass!" A woman to her right glared at her and let out a mutter about young girls having no decency as Melandy pursued the half wingly moving slightly slower so her skirt didn't fly up. Only two blocks later, near a stone archway leading to the docks she found him leaning against a wall that was next to a dimly lit alleyway. Before she opened her mouth he was already speaking.

"I figured it would help you move faster. Which it did. I saw the guy run in here." He quickly pulled his sword out while she stared at him. "What?"

"Your not actually thinking about…. Killing them are you..?"

"If they don't give our stuff back, we're going to have to fight them. It's just something we need to get used to…" However, even he looked a little unsure about this the grip on his sword loosening as he led the way into the alleyway, Melandy following closely behind.

_'Am I traveling with a killer?! He's prepared to kill another human! But why? No one deserves to die…'_ As she walked along pondering these thoughts she walked right into Ken who suddenly stopped holding spot.

"What the hell is your problem?" She was shushed by his hand clamping down on her mouth as he made a motion for her to listen.

"Hey ! Jim check this out! Got a nice little sack of gold off this rich girl back in the Inn."

"Nice catch here Bill." A gruff voice replied while a large door slammed from nearby and curses and a woman's screaming was added to the environment, edging closer, the Two could see a bald man standing on a crate who was wearing a bronze armor and had a claw on one hand. This was the man with the gruff voice, Jim. Standing across from them in a brown trench coat was their thief, Bill.

"Jackson hold the woman down damn it!" A short man with a red bandana and bronze armor called to a pudgy man who was holding a young girl who had bruises along her face, her clothing torn. Jackson spoke up in a squeaky voice.

"Sorry Pete. She's a tough one. We'll set her straight wont we?" At this Jim let out a chuckle while the others eyed their catch.

"Melandy, I cant get to that guy without him having time to use the girl as a hostage…you need to hit him." Ken whispered sharply to the girl behind him

'_Wh-…what?! But I cant…I cant kill somebody…'_

"Look I know you might want to neither do I. But I had to kill one of these bandit's when I first left my home. They attacked me and it was the only thing I can do to defend myself. Now you need to fight these guys and save that girl! It's the only way!" Ken realized at the end of his sentence his words had some effect as he heard the string of the bow move and an arrow appeared in the eye of Jackson as he dropped backwards the girl being released who now ran off a different alleyway.

"What the fuck?"

"Shit! I'll get her!" Pete called out running towards the alleyway, before feeling weightless and then nothing at all.

Jim and Bill stared at the boy who had just dashed out an alleyway, cutting off Pete's right foot before thrusting a blade through his head and had now turned to them. As Bill started to speak he realized he had a sudden sharp pain in his chest. Looking down he could see an arrow sticking out and he fell backwards with a look of surprise etched permanently upon his face.

"So … who are you kids?" Jim grunted out, not at all phased by the deaths of his companion, and crushing an arrow Melandy had sent towards his head with the claw as she stepped out of the Shadows. "Some brats playing hero..? You messed with the wrong people." Jim stepped back his muscular form taking up a large portion of the circular center they were in as he raised the claw up ready to fight.

Ken raised his blade in reply and stepped forward quickly swinging his sword in a downward stroke which Jim expertly blocked with the claw and slugged Ken across the face sending him into the alley wall as he kneed him in the stomach. When he went to slam him on the back of the head three arrows soared towards him, his claw moving up to block all three, a fatal mistake it seemed.

Ken ran his sword into the shoulder of the man, before stepping off on him and back flipping to a safer distance pulling his sword out. Looking back the bigger man only let out a grunt before resuming battle position while Ken spit out some blood to the side of the alley.

"Pretty quick moves… JUST DIE!!" Jim roared out as he charged Melandy firing off another arrow. "Same trick wont work twi-" His charge ended as the arrow pierced him. One in the forehead, the other in the throat.

"How...." He gurgled out as blood spilled, seeing the last moment flash before his eyes. The arrow sailed through the air and Ken dashed in front of it, cutting it in half, both halves completely missing his claw as they pierced him. He cracked a smile as he fell to the floor.

'_Genius..'_ And with that he was dead, his blood and his companions making a pool around their corpses.

Melandy stared at the bodies of the dead thieves as she strapped the bow onto her back. "Is it okay to have killed them..?"

"We had to… they took our stuff and you saw what they were about to do." Ken replied cleaning off the blood from his blade using the clothes of the dead.

"We couldn't have just knocked them out or something..?" Melandy stood pressed against one of the alley walls looking at Ken as he pulled the bag full of their money, and took the gold from the other pockets.

"I'm not a killer… I didn't want to kill these guys either but it's either kill or be killed… I've only killed once before, but I know that if we would have let them live they would've continued. It was our only choice. You need to be prepared to kill…the outside world isn't as friendly as I, no We thought it was.." Finished with his task Ken returned the sack of gold to Melandy's open hand keeping the extra gold he found on the thieves.

"If it was needed… I suppose I could live with it a little better.." She muttered still looking shaken as she walked through the same alleyway they came from. Exiting the alleyway the two turned towards one of the many shops and mutually decided to enter.

Inside the shop was a large number of items. Browsing through them Ken could tell what most of them did. "Alright let's get a couple of these potions, angel prayers, and antidotes." He pulled out several of each item before discarding them on the counter, giving the gold to a smiling clerk as he separated them equally between the two. Walking out of the shop Melandy turned towards him.

"So how did you know which of those items were which without asking? All I saw were different colored liquids."

The two walked through the archway leading into docks, navigating through the larger crowds as the day had progressed. Passing by vendors Ken responded.

"Back home we had a pretty large item shop. I used to spend a lot of time there examining the items that other's had gotten whenever they went outside. I remembered the potions were the blue liquid, Angel's Prayers were silver and sparkled, and Antidotes were a more greenish liquid. There were a couple of others but non I recognized in the shop." Reaching the end of the street, the two descended a large flight of stairs as the smell of the ocean reached their nostrils.

"I've never actually seen the ocean before." The two said at the same time before simultaneously bursting out laughing as they looked at eachother.

"My city is in the center of the desert." Ken said still smiling while Melandy replied.

"Mine is right next to the Barrens." She stepped forward first and they looked at the numerous ships in front of them before seeing the majestic view of the sea. It was glistening in the sunlight, and there were a couple of ships moving back and forth to and from Donau.

"So that's the sea…"

"That's our ship over there!" Melandy said pointing to a ship called the S.S Likka. It was a medium sized vessel, cargo containers on the back of the white ship. Towards the head of the ship was a large door which most likely led below into the ship and towards the quarters. There were many crew members dressed in similar white clothing with blue lining running back and forth securing packages onto the vessel. There were also a small number of passengers getting onto the ship and disappearing behind the door.

"It leaves in about 10 minutes right?" Ken asked going towards the sides where there was a small park in a circular formation stood some benches and there were flowers of different colors around. "Let's just rest for a second." Melandy nodded sitting on a bench opposite of Ken who also took a seat as he leaned back.

"So…tell me about yourself?"

"What's there to tell?"

"Loads of things. Come on you had a life, I want to know who I'm walking around with."

Melandy nodded before speaking up. "Well… You already know, I'm the princess of this country, Tiberoa. I was born in Fletz and raised there. When I was younger I remember going to Serdio, It's another Country south of here." She clarified seeing Ken's confused face. "There I went to the city of Bale, it really is majestic, and are royal families are really close, at one point they were even related."

"I thought your father didn't let you out..?"

"This was before my mother died. One day her heart just gave up on her about three years ago. Some people believed it was foul play, my mother was the kindest lady so I don't know why anyone would want to kill her. A lot of people think it was some type of illness."

"Which do you think it was?"

"I … don't know…" Melandy said looking down. "Well after she died dad wanted to make sure nothing happened to me. He always had six guards watching me at a time. I managed to escape when they were switching shifts, I slipped right out one of the side entrances and ended up in the barrens. I've never even been to Donau and it's always been right next to my city sad isn't it?" She looked around her eyes shining as she looked at the amazing view.

"Yea… It really is nice to see different places."

"What about you? What's your story?"

"Well… I was raised mainly in my second home, the wingly city of Ulara."

"I've heard about it! The dragoons in the second dragon campaign visited there, but its location was never revealed. Wait, second home? What happened to your first?" Melandy was pretty excited until she got a more confused look.

"It's a good thing Ulara's location was never revealed. My first home was the forest of winglies which was burned down when I was six. I don't know who my father is, I don't remember him ever being around, but my mom was killed in the destruction of the forest. She's the person I got the wingly blood from. I only lived because I was outside of the forest when it was burned. A search party from Ulara rescued me and a couple of others. I was raised in Ulara since then, but there was a lot of fear, and the younger winglies were forbidden outside access. One night, the exit was left unguarded and I snuck out, managed to find my ways to the barrens and well, you know the rest."

"You don't have a family? Who took care of you?"

"The leader of the winglies in Ulara, Charlie, she made sure there was a home for ourselves, but we basically took care of ourselves. It wasn't that bad, we learned how to fight and use even a bit of magic. I'm guessing your mom taught you how to fight?"

"No, one thing im grateful to my father for was archery lessons." The shrill wound of the whistle on the boat blowing cut off their conversation signaling it would be departing in just a moment. The two teens snapped to attention and started walking towards the ferry.

"Next stop Denin right?"

"And from there we can just enjoy life. Sounds too good to be true huh?" Melandy responded as the two started walking up the ramp to the deck of the ship looking off into the endless ocean, that lead to lands they had only dreamt about.


End file.
